Trends are defined as searches that saw the biggest increase between 2012 and 2013. Google released the Tico trending topics in mid-December as part of its annual Zeitgeist charts. The viral hit El Pollito Pío (“The cheeping chicken”) topped the list here. It’s essentially an animated version of “Old McDonald Had a Farm” version with an uglier twist at the end. The tractor on the farm goes “bruum bruum” over the cheeping chicken. That example of not-so-sublime entertainment garnered more than 300 million views worldwide.

Searches for the current events topic Corea del Norte (“North Korea”) finished second. “Minions”, a type of character from the movie “Mi Villano Favorito 2” (“Despicable Me 2”), placed third. “Mi Villano Favorito 2” was the most Googled movie of 2013 in Costa Rica, just beating out Iron Man 3.

Monteith and the Harlem Shake (no. 8), a series of fleetingly amusing dance videos, finished in the top 10 of Costa Rica Google searches and global searches. (The global list was topped by South Africa’s first black president Nelson Mandela and movie star Paul Walker — two more personalities who died in 2013).

The most popular How To search was “How to braid your hair” (perhaps inspired by the hero of the Hunger Games series). The list also featured “How to lose weight”, “How to learn English”, and “How to kiss”. There’s no shame in the last one, which also made the last of global “how to” searches. Everybody on the Internet wants to learn the secret to smooching.

The “What is…” searches appeared more eclectic. Some seemed based in hypochondria, others were downright philosophical. Topping the list in Costa Rica was the question: “What is LOL?” – Internet shorthand for “laughing out loud”. Other searches asked “What is hemophilia?”, “What is lupus?”, “What is bullying?”, “What is sexuality?” and “What is democracy?”. Finishing sixth on the list was the very meta question, “What is the Internet?”